Kenney aide resigns amid controversy over fundraising letter

A top aide to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney resigned Thursday night, only hours after the revelation that he had used Kenney’s official House of Commons letterhead to solicit money from fellow MPs for a campaign to woo ethnic voters to the Conservatives.

Alykhan Velshi, spokesman for Kenney, confirmed that Kasra Nejatian, Kenney’s director of multicultural affairs, had tendered his resignation and Kenney had accepted it.

“This is very serious and unacceptable … Minister Kenney has taken responsibility for this and has apologized for his former employee’s actions. Using parliamentary or government resources for partisan activities is completely unacceptable.”

Kenney will raise the matter with House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken, the ethics commissioner and the Board of Internal Economy which oversees the Parliamentary precinct and the use of parliamentary resources.

Nejatian’s resignation comes only three months after he left the New York City law firm of Ropes & Gray to work for Kenney. Earlier in the day, he tweeted about how much he loved working for Kenney.

Shortly afterwards, however, Nejatian found himself in the centre of a political maelstrom after a fundraising letter and powerpoint that was supposed to be sent to all Alberta Conservative MPs was accidentally sent to all Alberta MPs – including Linda Duncan, NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona.

“The minister of immigration is using government resources to solicit money for Conservative ads on parliamentary letterhead,” NDP leader Jack Layton charged during Question Period.

The letter, written on Kenney’s MP letterhead, asked MPs to request their riding associations contribute to “an additional $200,000” for a campaign to increase Conservative Party support among Canadians of different ethnic backgrounds.

Altogether, the party plans to mount a $378,000 campaign.

The powerpoint, entitled Breaking Through – Building the Conservative Brand in Cultural Communities, outlined the Conservative Party’s strategy for winning the ethnic vote – particularly Chinese and South Asian voters.

While Kenney’s office spoke freely Thursday night about Nejatian’s resignation, they were much more tight lipped about the powerpoint, which provides a glimpse into a highly successful campaign that Kenney has been waging since at least 2006.

Ethnic communities have traditionally been an Achilles heel for the Conservative Party, making it harder for the Conservatives to break through in large urban centres like downtown Toronto and Vancouver. However, Kenney – once dubbed by a colleague as the ‘Minister of curry in a hurry’ has logged hundreds of hours attending functions and carefully nurturing relationships with key communities he believes can be won over to the Conservative Party.

Those communities could hold the key for the Conservatives in the next election, as the powerpoint points out.

The document suggests there are target ridings that are “very ethnic,” telling potential donors they should take away three things from the document: “There are lots of ethnic voters; There will be quite a few more soon; They live where we need to win.”

The document outlines 10 “target ridings” – ridings across the country with large ethnic populations – many of which had tight races in the last election. The target ridings listed in the document are Bramalea-Gore-Malton held by Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi, Brampton-Springdale held by Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, Burnaby-Douglas held by NDP MP Bill Siksay, Eglinton-Lawrence held by Liberal MP Joe Volpe, Elmwood-Transcona held by NDP MP Jim Maloway, the Montreal riding of Mount Royal represented by Liberal MP Irwin Block, Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert’s riding of Richmond Hill, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh’s riding of Vancouver South, Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal’s Newton-North Delta and Liberal MP Ken Dryden’s riding of York Centre.

The document also gives a glimpse at a sophisticated strategy tailored to individual ethnic groups.

For example, a sample script for a television ad targeting Indo-Canadians focuses on an increase in immigration and trade with India under the current government and a shared belief in hard work.

“For over a hundred years, Indo-Canadians have worked hard to build Canada,” says the script. “Things haven’t always been fair for us. But the Conservatives have always recognized our history and our community’s sacrifice.”

“Today, the Conservatives represent our community in Parliament. Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives have increased immigration and trade from India. That’s because the Conservatives fight for our values. Belief in hard work.”

The strategy appears to be paying off, according to the powerpoint.

“In polls that are more than 40 per cent South Asian, CPC vote has grown 14.8 per cent across the GTA between 2004 and 2008.”

The strategy has also been paying off with Chinese-Canadian voters.

“In polls that are more than 40 per cent Chinese, Conservative vote has grown 8.5 per cent across the GTA between 2004 and 2008.”